I’ve realized lately that I consume a lot of caffeine.

Despite numerous health risks and my mother’s constant reminders that one day my teeth will eventually fall out of my mouth from sugar intake, I get up every day and crack open a can of Coke. In fact, there is one sitting next to me right now.

I’m pretty sure I am addicted because if I don’t have it, I actually start to crave it, and that freaks me out. Some people have cigarettes, others have alcohol, maybe even painkillers. I have Coca-Cola.

Put quite simply, caffeine is my drug of choice.

Apparently Coke/soda/pop – or however, you choose to call it, but my northern inclinations say its called pop – raises my stress levels, destroys sex cells, results in osteoporosis and triggers anxiety and depression. This causes me to go from a normal girl with a Coke to an angry, bladder cancer patient consumed with an unquenchable hunger for more, all the while ruining her chances of having children one day.

So which is worse? The cravings or the side effects?

I decided to do some Internet research to find out other side effects caused by Coke, but what I found was much worse. First, I see no need for a beverage company to have a Web site address, yet it does.

I discovered three links on Coca-Cola.com: sports, music and fun. The sports link connects you to games. The music link has downloadable songs and hosts its own radio station, “Coke FM.” The fun link takes you to accessible wallpaper for your computer, e-cards and Coke television commercials.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Coca-Cola is invading our lives. The logic is genius. If it covers every facet of our interests, we will be interested in whatever is being sold.

Coca-Cola has nothing to do with sports or music. It doesn’t make you run faster, and it doesn’t make Eminem sound any cooler. Yet, the Coca-Cola company is still winning, even when its logo is in and on items that have nothing to do with Coke.

It’s not that I am surprised that the Coca-Cola company has taken part in selling by familiarization – getting people to buy your product by slapping those recognizable white cursive letters with a red background everywhere.

I am surprised at how many other tools the company had to use in order to do so. And how many of those tools – sports, music and e-cards – are aimed at a very young audience.

The number one drink for children at breakfast is soft drinks, including the 56 percent of 8-year-olds who consume soft drinks daily. Children today drink twice as much pop as milk.

Of course, this brings up the question of where are the parents, but that’s another column altogether.

Coca-Cola has too much control. But to be honest, that’s not going to stop me from drinking it. I am just another innocent bystander who fell into the trap of commercialism. I was assaulted by logos when I was little, and now I am hooked because caffeine is addictive.

At least that’s what I’ll blame it on.